


Let Me Go

by StrawberryLane



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Misunderstandings, POV Original Character, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-19 14:55:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4750493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawberryLane/pseuds/StrawberryLane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a stranger faints outside her house one evening, Edna Elizabeth decides she needs to help him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let Me Go

**Author's Note:**

> I read a fic awhile ago, called Winchester Down by dreamlitnight. That story was based on a prompt and I decided I wanted to try my hand at writing something like what the prompt described. 
> 
> I'd like to give both prompter (is that a word?) and author credit because I wouldn't have come up with this idea on my own.   
> ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Edna Elizabeth never viewed herself as easily scared. In fact, Jed, her husband, used to say that "No one on this side of the river is braver than my Edna, that's for sure". But right now, standing in her dark kitchen, looking out the window for the shadow she could have sworn she saw not even a minute earlier, she was scared. 

She didn't know if her eyes were just tricking her, she was getting older after all, but she could have sworn it was the silhouette of a human she saw in the pale moonlight.   
Had they come to rob her? She shuddered at the thought and cursed herself for not listening to Toby, her son, who had repeatedly tried to get her to keep a gun in the house since Jed's death. She had always refused, telling him that guns were the work of the devil and she would never lay eyes on one again if she could help it. But now she was regretting getting rid of Jed's beloved rifle. And not living closer to town. The closest neighbour was miles away and if something happened it would be weeks before anyone noticed something was wrong.  
She edged closer to the window, looking out, hiding behind the curtain. Not that the curtain would help to hide her much, it being in a light, yellowy fabric which only served the purpose of being nice to look at. 

She drew a sharp breath, because that was a person alright. A man was standing right outside her orchard, his back to her house. She silently watched as he dragged his hand through his short hair and looked around. Then, as she held her breath, he took one step, then another, towards first row of apple trees. There seemed to be something wrong with his right leg, as he was trying to walk without actually using it. Before she properly registered this information, the man stumbled and fell onto the ground with a thump so loud she heard it through the window. Edna held her breath and waited for the man to get up. And waited. And waited. For what felt like an eternity she stood there, fingers tightly gripping the curtain. But the man didn't as much as move a finger as far as she could see.

"I'm too old to bother with this," Edna thought as she was half carrying, half dragging the unconscious man towards the guest bedroom on the first floor. When he hadn't moved for several minutes and it had started pouring down rain, she had decided she needed to do something. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't just leave him there in the mud, even though everything in her had screamed at her to do just that and call the cops on him for trespassing. That's what Jed would have done, she mused as she propped the unconscious young man up against the side of the bed and sat down by the desk to catch her breath. But then again, Jed would also have shot the man on sight. She studied the man from where she sat.   
He was young, younger than she'd first thought. He was wearing a leather jacket several sizes too big and wet jeans with mud almost all the way up to his knees. He must have come from the brook, which was more mud than water these days. He had short hair and, despite it being dirty from his fall in her orchard, he had one of the prettiest faces she'd ever seen. He looked as if he should be in one of those fashion magazines her daughter-in-law, Amy, always brought everywhere. 

She stood up and stretched. It wouldn't do for him to be lying on the floor when he woke up and she would have to see if some of Jed or Toby's old clothes fit him, because unconscious or not, she wasn't going to let him get mud all over the bedding. 

Her back would not be happy with her for the next week or so, Edna thought as she quietly walked out of the bedroom after she finally had succeeded in getting the man up on the bed. On top of the covers, mind you, but still. He was on the bed and Edna counted that one as a victory. The fact that she had successfully removed both his jacket, his shoes and his jeans were also victories, but she felt slightly weird about removing a stranger's clothing, so she didn't count that one as big a victory as actually getting him on the bed. Maybe if Toby knew how strong she was, he would stop treating her like a fragile doll made of glass.

The rain had stopped and the sun was slowly rising when she reached the tiny laundry room. Breakfast could wait, she decided as she set about filling a big bucket with hot water to let the jeans soak in to get rid of the worst of the mud. While the bucket was being filled, she turned all of the pockets inside out, just in case there was something that didn't take kindly to being washed in them. What she found was a pocket knife, car keys, some change, and five small, white pills that she did not recognize for the life of her. 

What if they were drugs? What if she had a drug addict in her house at this very moment? Honestly, those pills could be anything and if he was carrying them around in a place where he could reach them so quickly, well, that would explain a lot. The fainting, the way his face was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, like a fever, perhaps even the reason he'd found himself out here in her orchard in the first place? Poor boy must have been high as a house, and not have known where he was. 

She had to help him. No one should have to live a life dependent on such vile things. 

*******

She started by throwing the pills away, hiding them under a pile of mouldy old potatoes outside to make sure that the boy would not go looking for them once he woke up and realized they were gone. Then, she continued by making breakfast, her usual eggs and bacon for herself, and a big bowl of clear vegetable broth soup for the boy in the guest room. She decided it was best to treat his addiction just as she would treat any other sickness. With greens and lots of warm food. Putting everything on a tray, she carried it to the room, where she found the young man awake and alert. Well, alert may be stretching it a bit, she thought, as he was only half awake and closer to panic than anything else.

 

“Where am I?” His voice was deeper than she would have thought, she mused as she put the tray down on the bedside table. 

“Calm down now, everything is all right.”

“Where am I?!” 

“You're in my house, in the guest room. My name is Edna Elizabeth, and you can call me miss Edna. I found you last night in my orchard, you slipped and fainted just as the rain was starting, so I thought it best to get you inside. Don't worry, you're safe as can be.”

“Safe?” the man was waking up more now, slowly realizing his own state own undress. Looking confused, he continued, “where are my clothes, lady?”

“In the wash, and my name is miss Edna, I told you. And yes, safe. I'm going to help you, you see.”

“Help me? Help me with what, you crazy old... I mean, miss Edna?”

“With your horrible habit, of course.”

“I don't have any horrible habits, what are you talking about?”

“The drugs, of course! Are you so in denial that you refuse to realize that this dumb habit will get you killed?”

“Drugs? I think you've got the wrong impression....”

“I've decided to help you the best I can. At least eat breakfast and think about it. I'll be in the kitchen when you're finished, young man. What's your name, by the way?”

“Uh...Dean, miss.”

*****

By early evening Edna Elizabeth has managed to get the boy, Dean, to stay in bed most of the day. He had gotten up soon after eating his breakfast, intent on leaving and babbling about needing something for the pain. She had correctly guessed he'd meant the pills she'd thrown away and had successfully managed to get him back into the bedroom by promising she'd find something else to relieve the pain. It had helped that he'd been so weak he could hardly stand up. Somewhere around that time a fever had broken out, no doubt his body's reaction to not getting its daily dose of bad stuff and she'd given him more soup and some tea, think that the warmth may help him some. 

In between tending to her unexpected patient she'd managed not only to wash and dry his clothes but also work in the garden for a bit, which was what she was doing when she heard the sound of a car coming towards her house. Odd. Most people just drove by, and if they were intending on visiting her, they usually called beforehand.   
The man who climbed out of the car was not what she was expecting. He was tall, very tall with long unruly hair, dressed in jeans with holes in them and a brown jacket. He looked dirty.

“Excuse me, ma'am?” The man caught sight of her, standing in the middle of her vegetable garden. 

“Yes?”

“I'm looking for a man named Dean. He's around six foot tall, short hair, green eyes. Have you seen him, by any chance?”

“Why yes I have, yes.”

“Where?” Hope shines through the man's eyes. 

“He's inside. He's in my guest room.”

“What? Why?” 

“I found him last night, unconscious. He has a fever and I've decided to help him.”

“Help him?”

“Yes, with his addiction. Who are you anyway, his dealer?” 

”What? What are you talking about?” 

”I couldn't help but notice that you've got the same kind of glassy eyes he does. Are you high? And I assume there's drugs in that bottle you're holding there?” Edna pointed towards the small red bottle the man was holding in his hand. He saw her looking and put his hands in his pockets.

”What? No, these are... It's just a fever. Look, can I see him?”

”To feed his disgusting habit? I think not.”

The man sighed, clearly becoming more and more irritated and unsteady. He opened his mouth as if to say something, closed it again, and walked right past her towards her house.

”What do you think you're doing, young man?!” she called after him, ”If you walk inside, I'm calling the police!” 

The man didn't even turn around to look at her, just shrugged as if to say ”You do that,” and disappeared inside her house. She ran after him, wishing more than ever she hadn't given away Jed's rifle when he'd died.

********

The man was sitting on the edge of Dean's bed when she reached the guest room. In his hand was the red bottle, open to show her the many small white pills that filled it.

”You want this, don't you?” The man was looking down at Dean who was nodding vigorously.

”Yeah, thought so,” with a small chuckle, the man took one of the small pills and put it in Dean's open mouth. 

”And now we wait. You'll be better in no time,” he said as Dean swallowed. 

”How can you do that and not even feel a little bit of remorse?” Edna Elizabeth heard herself say from where she was standing in the doorway.

”Look, lady, this isn't...” the man started speaking, but she cut him off, deciding that she couldn't listen to him defending himself and what he was doing any longer.

”I tried to help you know, and I could have. If only you hadn't shown your face here, he would've been free. He wouldn't have those vile things in his system, he would have been clean.”

”Help me Sammy, I'm being held prisoner by a crazy old lady,” Dean mumbled from where he was laying. 

”I'm here, Dean. We'll be leaving now, the car's outside,” Sammy said, helping his brother up from the bed. 

”Thank you for taking care of my brother, ma'am. I'm sure he's very grateful,” he turned to Edna Elizabeth as they made their, somewhat unsteady, way through the door. She stood frozen in the doorway, watching them leave.

”Well,” she thought ”some people you just cannot save, no matter how much you want to,” Her only hope was that they would come to their senses and realize that drugs were the work of the devil and get clean, both of them.

The End.


End file.
